DAY 97

What a day! I got to the hospital at just before 4pm having left the house at 12.30. At the point I entered the ward there was an obvious problem at David's bed as there was a flurry of activity. His pulse rate was 168, his blood pressure was low and he had a pain in his chest. For the next 3 hours he was visited by various medics including some from the Intensive Care Unit. At first they thought he was having a heart attack but they then revised their thinking to maybe it was caused by an infection. Several ECG's were taken and he had an x ray. The x ray indicated something in the bottom of his right lung. The ITU doctor decided to ring the consultant surgeon for advice and was asked to send David for a scan to see if there was any infection and if so where it was. The scan showed that there was some leakage from the gullet and this could have been why there was some fluid gathering in his lung. By the time all of this had happened the drugs he had been given reduced his pulse and brought his blood pressure up to something like normal. I gleaned from the doctor that the leakage was probably what caused the high pulse rate and low blood pressure and it was unlikely he had had a heart attack but it would not be clear until later today (Sunday) whether and how badly the heart muscle had been affected. By this time it was after 10pm so Andrea and I headed home.
Now that is not the end of my story. When I went to the hospital I got held up in an horrendous traffic jam and had to abandon the car and walk to the ferry. Because it was late when we got to the ferry terminal we had missed the last ferry that would have taken us to the port where I had left the car East Cowes). We had to take the catamaran which docks in West Cowes, walk from the terminal to the chain ferry which goes back and forth between East and West Cowes and then walk up the hill to where I had left the car. It was a very long day. More later or tomorrow depending on what delights await.